The increase in emissions zones throughout the country have become rampant.  At first it was London but now we have Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Portsmouth and soon we may get Manchester, a zone that seems to take in the whole of the Northwest.  These zone charges purport that they are there to improve the environment but they are not.  They are not based on what comes out of the exhaust which is measured on every MOT but rather on the age of the vehicle and so older low emissions vehicles are scrapped in favour of brand new ones, the creation of which has a detrimental effect on the environment.

These zones also force vehicles to avoid the centre.  So these vehicles have to take longer journeys around throwing out their emissions away from the offices and shopping centres to the homes and schools where people actually live.  

There are two real reasons that these zones have come into force. 

1) to generate revenue for the cities that employ them and

2)  to increase the unnecessary sale of newer vehicles,

but they are getting away with it because they pretend that it is to help the environment.  

I believe in a greener future and I believe in sustainability but I also believe that these zones are having the opposite effect and it is time that there are either abolished or changed so that they are based on vehicle emissions rather than vehicle age.

https://youtu.be/dTj9f3ivRA0